The Transformer

Strategist, apologist and controversialist, he is the face of one of the most powerful nations in the world.

Creator of Abenomics, Shinzō Abe is Japan’s youngest post-war prime minister, and the first to be born after World War II.

He has transformed Japan from a pacifist to a more assertive power.

The right wing hawk is also an author who wrote “Toward a Beautiful Nation” which became a bestseller in Japan.

 

Early Life

Shinzō Abe was born on September 21, 1954 in Nagato, Yamaguchi to a high profile political family. Abe attended primary, middle and high schools associated with Seikei University. Later, he moved to US and studied at the University of Southern California’s School of Public Policy. He worked for a steel manufacturer company, “Kobe Steel” in 1979 for three years before entering politics.

 

Career

Abe pursued a number of government positions including executive assistant to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, private secretary to the chairperson of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) General Council, and private secretary to the LDP secretary-general.

In 1993, Abe was elected to the House of Representatives and began moving up the party ranks.  

He gained national popularity for his tough stance as a negotiator for the Japanese government on behalf of the families of Japanese abductees taken to North Korea.

In 2003, he was named secretary general of the LDP. Three years later, on September 26, he was elected prime minister. Abe advocated a strong national defense and firmer ties to the US as a counterweight to future threats from China and North Korea. However, he was weakened by a series of gaffes, financial scandals and accusations of cronyism, and made a surprise resignation announcement less than a year later, on 12 September 2007.

After remaining politically quiet for a few years, Abe staged a comeback in 2012. He came into power on a platform of increased federal spending and fiscal reform and a more aggressive attitude toward China.

 

Honors

Order of Honour (Greece)

Herman Kahn Award, 2013

Asian of the Year award, 2013